Diaries of an Artist Explorer
by Margaret Mee

This is a superbly illustrated and ever so moving collection of the diaries of one of our real gardening heroes, Margaret Mee. A British botanical artist and Amazon explorer, Mee (1909-88) recorded her observations during her expeditions with pen and brush. The diaries are filled with botanical information and tales of adventure and hardship—including boat trouble, feuds, getting lost, and being bitten so fiercely by insects that her eyes swelled shut and she had to wrap her hands in plastic. Mee was a great artist and an important naturalist who was enchanted by and engaged with the rain forests of the Amazon. She expressed her belief that this world of nature is worth protecting through her brilliant watercolors and these breathtaking images, which both display an unnerving vividness (quite a lot of snakes and lizards!) and intense sensitivity. And oh that Gustavia...

 

—Sir Ghillean T. Prance, Royal Horticultural Society